Business Intelligence For Dummies

You're intelligent, right? So you've already figured out that Business Intelligence can be pretty valuable in making the right decisions about your business. But you’ve heard at least a dozen definitions of what it is, and heard of at least that many BI tools. Where do you start?
Business Intelligence For Dummies makes BI understandable! It takes you step by step through the technologies and the alphabet soup, so you can choose the right technology and implement a successful BI environment. You'll see how the applications and technologies work together to access, analyze, and present data that you can use to make better decisions about your products, customers, competitors, and more.
You’ll find out how to:
Understand the principles and practical elements of BI
Determine what your business needs
Compare different approaches to BI
Build a solid BI architecture and roadmap
Design, develop, and deploy your BI plan
Relate BI to data warehousing, ERP, CRM, and e-commerce
Analyze emerging trends and developing BI tools to see what else may be useful
Whether you’re the business owner or the person charged with developing and implementing a BI strategy, checking out Business Intelligence For Dummies is a good business decision.

Swain Scheps is Manager of Business Analysis at Brierley + Partners, Inc. and a technology veteran making his first foray into the world of book authoring. He wrote the masterpiece resting in your hands with a great deal of input and inspiration from BI guru and fellow For Dummies author Alan R. Simon.
In the late 1990’s Swain, along with most people reading this book, had his dot-com boom-to-bust experience with a company called. . .well, that’s not really important now is it. (Anyone interested in buying some slightly underwater stock options should contact the publisher immediately.) After that there were consulting stints at Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and Best Crossmark developing sales support applications and reporting tools. As of this writing, Swain basks under the fluorescent lights of Brierley, a technology company whose specialty is building customer relationship and loyalty management systems for retailers. The author has had the opportunity to learn from the very best as Brierley also provides unparalleled business intelligence and analytics services for its clients.
Swain lives in Dallas, Texas with wife Nancy and a mere four dogs. He writes about more than just technology; his work has appeared in Fodor’s travel guide books, military history magazines, and even another For Dummies book.

Introduction.
Part I: Introduction and Basics.
Chapter 1: Understanding Business Intelligence.
Chapter 2: Fitting BI with Other Technology Disciplines.
Chapter 3: Meeting the BI Challenge.
Part II: Business Intelligence User Models.
Chapter 4: Basic Reporting and Querying.
Chapter 5: OLAP: Online Analytical Processing.
Chapter 6: Dashboards and Briefing Books.
Chapter 7: Advanced / Emerging BI Technologies.
Part III: The BI Lifecycle.
Chapter 8: The BI Big Picture.
Chapter 9: Human Factors in BI Implementations.
Chapter 10: Taking a Closer Look at BI Strategy.
Chapter 11: Building a Solid BI Architecture and Roadmap.
Part IV: Implementing BI.
Chapter 12: Building the BI Project Plan.
Chapter 13: Collecting User Requirements.
Chapter 14: BI Design and Development.
Chapter 15: The Day After: Maintenance and Enhancement.
Part V: BI and Technology.
Chapter 16: BI Target Databases: Data Warehouses, Marts, and Stores.
Chapter 17: BI Products and Vendors.
Part VI: The Part of Tens.
Chapter 18: Ten Keys to BI Success.
Chapter 19: Ten BI Risks (and How to Overcome Them).
Chapter 20: Ten Keys to Gathering Good BI Requirements.
Chapter 21: Ten Secrets to a Successful BI Deployment.
Chapter 22: Ten Secrets to a Healthy BI Environment.
Chapter 23: Ten Signs That Your BI Environment Is at Risk.
Index.